Review: Venturi Mini

Back in early November, we reported the availability of a new device for mobile phones called the Venturi Mini. The Venturi Mini was making its debut in the U.S. after being launched in the U.K. back in September. I had the opportunity to get my hands on one and I must tell you it’s surprisingly small for the number of features it has. The Mini is a Bluetooth hub for your car that streams music from a MP3 player or music to your radio and also acts as a charger and speakerphone.

FeaturesThe Venturi Mini is powered by a car’s 12-volt adapter. It features an FM transmitter and a microphone which allows hands-free calling for Bluetooth phones and if your phone plays music and supports A2DP Bluetooth technology it will also transmit the music from your phone through your car radio as well. If that’s not cool enough, if your radio supports RDBS technology the car radio display will show phone book contacts, device menus and caller ID information from the Venturi Mini.

The device has four primary buttons on the face of the device which surround an LCD screen. The top two buttons enable you to control the phone and music features of the device. When you choose the phone option the two buttons on the bottom of the device will light up green and red and work just like similar buttons do on your cell phone to answer and hang up a call. Pressing the music button will change the lights on the bottom buttons to clear and allow you to stop and pause any song you are listening two.

The device also includes a scroll button in the middle of the device just below the LCD screen. The scroll button will allow the user to skip forward and back while listening to a playlist when the device is in music mode. If the device is in phone mode then you can use the scroll wheel to access your phone book or to perform a redial.

On the left side of the device is two 3.5mm jacks that you can plug a MP3 player or other device into which will allow the Venturi Mini to be a simple FM transmitter. If you are looking to charge up your phone or portable player a USB port is available on the right side of the device that will recharge your battery as if it is connected to a computer or any other USB charger.

Phone Book
A nice feature of the Venturi Mini is that you can upload your phone book to it. With your phone book uploaded there is no need to pull out your mobile phone to make a call. Your phone can stay tucked away in your purse or on your hip and you can receive and make calls through the Venturi Mini. Now the makers of the Venturi Mini make it pretty clear that the ability to transfer the phone book is available on most “modern” phones.

Unfortunately, I found out that clearly two of my phones weren’t “modern”. Nevertheless, you can still use the hands-free features of the device if you can’t transfer the phone book, but need to make a call. You just need to make the call on your phone. Once you initiate the call on your phone you can end it through the Venturi Mini.

Set Up
The Venturi Mini was extremely easy to setup. It was no harder than setting up any other Bluetooth device such as associating your Bluetooth phone with a hands-free ear piece. The device even displays its Bluetooth access code when your phone finds it so you don’t have to hunt for that in the instructions before you associate the Venturi Mini with your phone.

The only other step is setting up what station you want your FM transmitter to turn to. This was easy as well and pretty intuitive to figure out since I was able to do this pretty quickly without reading any directions. After all, I’m a guy right?

Once your Venturi Mini is setup properly it will automatically associate with your phone every time you get in your car. Again, the only time you would need to pull your phone out would be if you are unable to transfer your phone book to the Venturi Mini and you need to make a call.

The Swiss Army Knife Accessory for Mobile Phones and Devices
The biggest advantage I found using the Venturi Mini is that it takes up one 12-volt plug in your car, but it does a number of things. So, instead of getting a device to split your single 12-volt plug into additional plugs you can simply get rid of the FM transmitter you have for your media player, charger for any device which can charge off of a simple USB connection and stand-alone hands-free or Bluetooth stereo transmitter. The Venturi Mini already does all that in one small package.

Where Can I Get It and How Much?
US$129 may not seem cheap, but for this device it is when you consider what it would cost separately for an FM transmitter, Bluetooth stereo transmitter, hands-free device and USB charger. The Venturi Mini became available nationwide this month and if you can’t find it locally you can buy it online at the My Venturi website. The website also features a USB phone multi charger adaptor for Nokia, Sony, Ericsson, Motorol, Samsung and LG devices. The adapter retails for US$24.99.

Speak Your Mind

jlook

Warning!! This company charged my account for the mini and has not sent the order. They will not respond to email inquiries. My account was charged two weeks ago and no order and after the initial confirmation no email response. Order at your own risk.

gadgetgal

Hi, jlook. Venturi was experiencing some shipping delays that have now been resolved, and are now shipping all units on time. On behalf of Venturi, apologies for any inconvenience.

TraderJoe

First, this device is made ofvery cheap plastic. After a few times of use, you will see minor cracks forming on the plastic face. I purchased this unit because it has direct audio output, which can be connected to your car stereo's auxilary input (if vehicle is equiped with one). I prefer this over using it's FM modulator. However, to my dismay, this feature is not usable. Once my bluetooth phone synchs with this unit, a very annoying buzzing sound is heard through the car stereo. This makes it impossible to hold a conversation or stream music from your phone's music player. The buzzing is so bad that I was sure I had a defective unit. So I had it replaced with another new unit and was surpirsed that it made the same buzzing sound. I tried to contact Venturi, but received no response via their e-mail system (they don't provide a phone number).

Next, I tried the FM transmitter. The quality is very dispointing. I got lots of static on all the numerous FM frequencies that I tried. Please note that results may differ based on type of vehicle. I have a 2005 Honda Accord and the cigarette lighter adaptor is not right next to the radio. If your car's cigarette adaptor is close to your radio, you may get better results.

In summary, this device has proven to be completely a waste of money for my needs. I was very disapointed that the direct output is completely useless when synched via bluetooth to your cell phone. And forget about any kind of support. Their website claims they answer all e-mails within 48 hours, but I never received a reply after waiting 3 days.

Walt

I, I too found the FM transmitter rather poor, and my “cigarette lighter” is directly under my radio. IMHO, this could have been a great product if they only paid more attention to its FM transmitter design. I mean, the FM transmitter is the heart of all its functions, and when that doesn’t work well, very little usefulness is left.
BTW, I also have a FM transmitter in my kid’s DVD player (not being used at the same time, I should mention), and it has no problem at all delivering crisp clear sound, and it is located all the way in the back seat. I only mention this to highlight that a good FM transmitter design is certainly possible.
I’ll wait to see if there is an improved Venturi II, that cleans up this mistake.

Sibron

I got one of these when the “in-car” unit packed up in my wifes car. I fell in love with it after the first use. Its so easy to set up, i didn’t read the instuctions. If you can use a mobile phone you will be able to set this up, its that easy.
I did get some static, but found that it was because i had set it too close to a regular radio station.
Not long after getting it i sent an e-mail to Venturi, sugesting that an AC power input would be handy. They replied promptly, thanking me for my input.
Somehow i lost the nut that holds the contacts onto the lighter plug, I bought a new unit, and tonight have asked venturi if i can get a new nut for my old one. Then I’ll have one for my car too :-)

Jmanguitars

The update of this device (the newest version) seems to have resolved all of the audio quality issues. I have one too and like the above user, fell in love with it from first use. It means that I now use my iPhone for more uses throughout the day!

Sibron

Update:
The Aus. distributer mailed me back the next day with instructions to take a copy of his email into the store i bought it from, and ask them to call him.
I did, and they called him, then gave me the part off a new one. No charge!
Now that is what I call service.
Thank you Venturi
Thank you JB HiFi
Now I have 2 Venturi Mini!!! :-)